concert demo

[David LeBlanc]

Hi all

I am shooting a concert at the Savoy theater for the Tenor Peter Gillis and he wants a demo tape done at about 3 minutes and plus the concert itself this is my first concert, I have the sound worked out at the first rehearsal I think? This Is my set up for sound 2 XLR connections from the sound board into the MA 200 left and right on
audio1 in, audio mode 16 bit, set to mic I am hoping to pick up some ambient sound of the audience from the stage mics
They have a lighting system at the theater that costs well over 100,000,00$! My white balance is set to indoor lighting, I am in manual mode, Shutter speed set at 1/60, Aperture set at 2.0,
Gain set at –6 db looks a little dark so I tried -12db and it looked a bit over exposed at times with certain lights, and at -12db did not notice any graininess on playback and color gain -1
I am just using 1 camera an XL1s, I am hoping the guy will give me some direction of what he wants such as close ups for a certain number he is doing does any one have a site with some examples of demos for this situation or some suggestions anything would be appreciated I have 1 rehearsal to go tomorrow before the concert
Thanks Dave Leblanc

[Don Palomaki]

Use as little video gain as you can.

Be sure the sound feed from the mixer is at mic level. But it sounds like you have checked that already.

Suggest getting ambient sound on a second camcorder, or something like MiniDisc. The house sound reaching the stage mic may be inadequate. YOu might even want to get sound on a backup recorder. The house probably has a DAT or similar already connected.

[David LeBlanc]

Hi Don
I think your right they probably have something set up for ambient sound in house, but if they don't What About going 12 bit ST-1-2, 4 channel With the 2 XLR connections from the sound board going to audio 2 and hooking up two wireless to audio 1.
If I did this then I am assuming I could adjust the levels of audio 1 down manually on the camera. And if I hook up the 2 wireless should I use omni or cardioids mics
Thanks Dave LeBlanc

[Don Palomaki]

If the client is satisfied with 12-bit/32 kHz sound you will be OK. But if he has a golden ear he might expect more.

But DO NOT feed a line-level signal directly to the MA-100/200. It will clip. Limit the input to it to nominal MIC level, say -30 dBV or less, and use the MIC ATT setting if necessary. YOu can buy in-line attenuators if needed from any good pro-audio shop.

[David LeBlanc]

Hi Don

Thanks for the help I did the concert and the sound was fantastic
Ran 2 lines on audio 1 16 bit 1 was on stage the other was 2 mics set up in the corner
of the theater.
But the video was terrible washed out by the lights the lights were to bright
I tried my best in the rehearsals tried every combo available in the end concert night went to auto mode
Still don’t now what to do if I was in the same situation
I tried to talk to the lighting tech and the performer about about them but to no avail

So anyway Don thanks very much for the sound advice

Dave Le Blanc

[Ed Smith]

Conserts and theartre productions are pretty hard to expose for. Reason being that they are lighting for the audience rather than the camera.

I filmed various theartre productions, and always leave everything in manual. if it gets to light or to dark then I just adjust the iris and in major situations adjust the gain.

If you went to the rehearsals then you should know when a dark or a light bit is coming up, you can then try and compenstate for it before the change happens.

You will find that viewers of the video do not mind this as much, they think that it was a lighting clitche rather than you adjusting the iris.

If a dark scene is to dark, then thats how it has to be.

Nice to see your audio turned out nice. Its normally the other way round for me (Audio crap but OK - good picture)

All the best,

Ed